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Monday, 1 July 2013

Shabu Sushi steamboat at Nex

I chanced upon a deal on Groupon that was going for $26 for 2 pax Japanese Steamboat and Sushi Buffet at Shabu Sushi. As a steamboat lover, I knew I had to get it!

Even though the reviews were not fantastic, I decided to give it a try because at an affordable price of $13 per pax, it was hard to resist.

It was stated in the fine print that we could only call to make reservations from 11am to 6pm. Wendy and I tried to call from 11am and the line was already engaged. Because over 1000 deals were bought, we gave them the benefit of doubt that it was due to the overwhelming amount of calls coming in. It was only at 6+ that I finally got through.

When we arrived there, the phone was barely ringing at all. Most of the times, it was quiet. I was really wondering if they had put the phone off the hook on purpose..

The normal price during lunch hours for an adult is at $17.90+ which I felt was not worth it given the quality and variety of food.

The sushi there was the worst sushi I have ever eaten in my entire life. Even someone who has no experience in making sushis can serve better sushis than that. The grains of rice were so sticky and clumped up together that it could not break apart. One can only bite them into lumps of "rice" to separate them. They didn't taste fresh either and the variety was extremely limited. For an eatery with the name sushi in it, they can change their signboard already.

The hot food selection was not impressive but still passable since the main star was the steamboat.

We got the Tom Yum and Chicken soup base. The tom yum soup base was already very flavourful even without putting any ingredients in it. Thus, the soup was quite salty by the time we were halfway through our meal.

I really like the concept of having the food placed on the conveyor belt for the diners' convenience. However, as we were sitting at the corner, most of the food that came in our direction were the ones that were either not wanted by other diners or were in abundance. When I went to get ice-cream at the end of my meal, I saw a couple of food items (e.g. simple items such as mushrooms) that I had not seen on the conveyor belt before. When we were 3/4 into our meal, we only managed to get a plate of prawns because the people preparing the food only placed the other food in another direction. However, when I did request for them to place some prawns on the conveyor belt that was heading in our direction, they did so I have no complaints.

We only managed to get a refill of our chicken soup when the it was near to drying up because they had no more stock and the server had forgotten about our request.

Overall, the service could be more attentive. At the price of $26 for 2 pax, you can give it a try but to pay for the full price, you can go somewhere better.